Spirito Santo (island)

Located between Poveglia and San Clemente, the little island of Spirito Santo had a monastery since the 12th century. This was given a major boost when the Ermitani of Padua took it over in the 16th century and commissioned Sansovino to design a new church. Titian was hired to punt out to paint a series of ceiling frescoes on Old Testament themes, which were inspired by his rival Pordenone's powerful (but mostly lost) frescoes in the cloister of Santo Stefano.

The Ermitani made Spirito Santo a centre for printing musical scores. Their elegant monastery was a favourite place to lodge papal nuncios, ambassadors and other VIPs visiting the city.

It all ended when the Order was suppressed in 1656 by Pope Alexander VII. The church's works of art, notably Titian's ceiling frescoes were transferred to the Salute, then under construction. Venice sold the rest to raise money to defend Candia (Crete) from the Ottomans. After Crete's fall, Spirito Santo hosted refugee monks; it was under the Franciscans until 1806, when the monks were moved to San Giobbe.